well-educated, well-traveled, cultivated, walters, like morgan, had a taste for precious objects. nevertheless, he felt it was important to include a raphael in his collection. in 1901 walters acquired the madonna of the candelabra, believed to be at least partly by the master's own hand. scholars attribute the virgin and child to raphael and the angels to an assistant. walters proudly displayed his madonna in a gallery which he built adjacent to the family house in baltimore. owning a raphael had a significance beyond that of acquiring a beautiful work of art. he was the only artist whose prestige had endured all changes of taste and fashion. the next raphael acquisition marked the coming-of-age of america as a nation of collectors. the small cowper madonna, which mrs. gardner had coveted, was sold to the wideners in 1914 for the highest price that had ever been paid for a painting. outside philadelphia, the wideners built one of the grandest estates of the gilded age. re, they lived the life of american princes. p.a.b. widener made his fortune in street railways. he was eectic i